Relationship among anxiety, depression, social and self-efficacy in night-shift nurses

Abstract

Night shift disturbs normal circadian rhythm, thus leads to several psychological problems. We aim to investigate the anxiety, depression, social support and self-efficacy of night-shift nurses compared with day-shift nurses and explore the association between emotional status and social support as well as the combined influence of social support and self-efficacy on emotional status. We conducted this quantitative comparative study in a hospital from January 1, 2019 to August 31, 2020, using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS), and General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES). The HADS-A and HADS-D scores were higher for the night-shift nurses than for the day-shift nurses (7.38 ± 3.228 vs. 5.81 ± 3.180 and 6.79 ± 3.444 vs. 5.43 ± 3.155, respectively, P < 0.01). The family support, friend support, other support and total social support scores were lower for the night-shift nurses than for the day-shift nurses. In both groups, these scores were lower for nurses with suspected anxiety than for those without anxiety (61.16 ± 12.208 vs. 66.35 ± 9.976, P < 0.01) and were lower for nurses with suspected depression than for those without depression (59.91± 11.606 vs. 66.77 ± 10.320, P < 0.01). The item scores, total scores and total mean score for the night-shift nurses were significantly lower than those for the day-shift nurses (P < 0.01). Social support and self-efficacy had noticeable regression effects on nurses’ anxiety and depression, and both variables had significant negative effects on anxiety and depression. This study suggests that night-shift nurses may have higher anxiety and depression than day-shift nurses. Nurses with suspected anxiety and depression nurses may have lower social support than those without anxiety and depression.